Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with President Tabare Vazquez of Uruguay in the Treaty Room at the Department of State today. Together they expressed concern that recent weapons purchases by Venezuela could lead to an arms race in South America. Together they pledged cooperation on trade.

Clinton singled out Venezuela urging it to disclose its arms purchases and make clear what they are for saying,

" We have expressed concern about the number of Venezuelan arms purchases. They outpace all other countries in South America and certainly raise the question as to whether there is going to be an arms race in the region. So we urge Venezuela to be transparent in its purchases, clear about its purposes. They should be putting in place procedures and practices to ensure that the weapons that they buy are not diverted to insurgent groups or illegal organizations, like drug trafficking gangs and other criminal cartels."

Vazquez said he feared that an arms race in the region could divert funds from economic development in the poor countries of the region. He said he wanted "the governments of South America to decide to devote more money to promote health, to promote education and education to prevent diseases; to spend that money, instead of spending it in weapons, spending it in housing, good housing for our people, and to further deepen investment, especially in the field of education."Read some of their remarks here or watch their full remarks to the press below: